JST 243 – Finding your source of purpose and direction

“Deeper & more profound than sexuality, deeper than the longing for social power, deeper than the longing for possessions, is a basic & more universal desire in human nature; the desire for an orientation. The right direction.”– William Sheldon, psychologist

You may already be aware that my team and I have been clarifying our message about who we are as a company and what we do. This is already having an impact on what we spend our time doing and how we do it. One of the things we’ve been looking at is the whole domain of mission, vision and purpose, so in this article, we’re going to be exploring the evolutionary power of purpose.

Simon Sinek (author of ‘Start With Why’) famously stated that ‘The goal is not to do business with everybody who needs what you have. The goal is to do business with people who believe what you believe.’ And while I don’t have strong views for or against the ‘start with why’ model, there is something my team and I passionately believe to be true, and it’s this:

We believe the most valuable thing a person can discover is the truth of who they really are.

I also know that there’s incredible value in understanding how your mind works, and so that’s going to be an integral part of how we make progress towards our vision:

To inspire and educate a generation to experience lives of clarity, resilience and wellbeing.

Your inner source of evolutionary purpose
A sense of purpose and direction are innate; as natural to you as breathing. When you were a child, a purpose would find you, captivate you and guide you until you transcended it. This is the sense of evolutionary purpose that has already motivated you…

• To crawl, to walk and to talk.
• To explore the world and learn about what fascinates you.
• To throw yourself into pastimes, hobbies and other activities.
• To develop skills and master them.

A purpose finds you, captivates you, then guides you until you transcend it.
That sense of evolutionary purpose is what has me writing this, and may well be what has you reading it.

Stop and consider that for a moment. Are you open to the possibility that your innate capacity for purpose and direction is guiding you in this very moment?

So what gets in the way of realizing your purpose?
You may have been told you need to ‘find your purpose’, but how do you do that? It turns out that a more valuable question to ask is, ‘What gets in the way of your realizing purpose?’

What gets in the way is looking for it where it isn’t…

The misguided search for purpose is the biggest obstacle to finding it.

It turns out there’s only one thing that ever gets in the way of you knowing what’s right for you in the moment: contaminated thinking. The source of contaminated thinking is the outside-in misunderstanding; the mistaken belief that you’re feeling something other than Thought in the moment.

You can’t find something where it isn’t
If purpose was a physical object, then losing it and looking for it would make sense, but it isn’t. Purpose is a realization that brings you closer to the reality of life that you’re part of.

Imagine a whirlpool in a fast-flowing river. While you could name the whirlpool and describe its characteristics, it has no existence independent of the river. While you can perceive the whirlpool as distinct and separate for practical purposes, it is never actually separate. The whirlpool is inseparable from the river, part of an undivided whole.

While you have a name and can describe your characteristics, you have no existence independent of the oneness of life.

While you can perceive yourself as distinct and separate for practical purposes, you are never actually separate.

You are inseparable from the intelligence and oneness of life, part of an undivided whole.

This is who you really are.

To your increasing clarity!
Big love

Jamie Smart

Sunday Times Bestselling Author, Speaker and Executive Coach

PLUS: Whenever you’re ready… here are 8 ways I can help you get the clarity and results that matter to you: